Tangata Whenua

(Noun) local people, hosts, indigenous people - people born of the whenua, i.e. of the placenta and of the land where the people's ancestors have lived and where their placenta are buried.

Ko te tangata whenua te hunga pupuri i te mana o tētahi whenua (Te Ara 2013). / The tangata whenua are the people who have authority in a particular place. Te Aka Māori Dictionary